A one-day event focussing on how community sports providers can meet the challenges and benefit from new opportunities created by changes in people’s lives, the political landscape and new technology

8th December 2015

The Podium, ArcelorMittal Orbit, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London

Real stories and successes to be told, lessons to be learnt, ideas and experiences to be shared

Have you got a great story to tell, then please get in touch

The challenges facing community sport in London…

This event focuses on how society, needs community sports clubs, enterprises and other providers to prosper. We need them to be places where people will want to play and exercise and become involved. They should generally become hubs for their communities, in short become places ‘where people live their lives.

This event highlights best practice and provide thoughts, tools and to-dos on how to become an enterprising and sustainable community sports provider. Making a difference in areas such as health and wellbeing, employment and education should be key aims of our ambitions of getting people more people active and create better communities.

Community sports clubs, social enterprises and other providers are facing strong challenges in order to survive and grow in an increasingly competitive and demanding market. How to attract new members and users and retain the existing ones, become a hub of the community, grow sponsorship revenue, improve the social life of the club, increase media coverage, benefit from new technology and introduce new revenue streams…are all pressing concerns.

Life is changing and providers within community sport have to change with it.

So how do we deliver great, sustainable community sport without compromising your sporting and community objectives? How do we provide great customer experiences and grow participation whilst at the same time meeting the strategic objectives of external partners and funders, whether they are from within sport or from health, regeneration or community services? How do we engage the local community and promote community leadership and play our part of the fabric of our local communities? How do we develop and deliver an innovative range of sporting opportunities, attracting people of all ages and abilities?

Delegates will come from community sports clubs, community trust at professional sports clubs, governing bodies of sport, local authorities, community sports trusts, informal sports providers, community sports enterprises, sports governing bodies, community groups and other community sports providers.

A conference presenting real stories and ‘need-to-know’ support

This conference focuses on these issues, highlight best practice and provide thoughts, tools and to-dos on how you too can become a sustainable community sports provider.

This is not a conference packed with policy presentations. We hope people will leave the event knowing they have heard some great practical ideas and having learnt how to make positive changes of their own.

The programme could include following topics:

How to provide enterprise support to sport clubs in our local communities

How community sport should be proving its impact on community

How to engage with hard to reach groups in the community

From ‘just a sports club/hub’ to sustainable community sport enterprise

From ‘grant-addicts’ to income-generators with a balanced income model

How community sport should be shifting partner perceptions and help create the workforce of the future

How to create the right environment for growth and developing great people,

The benefits of utilising social media

How social enterprises in sport can be inspiring because of the passion, tenacity and ultimately the impact they make

How sport and education can work together for mutual benefit

Demonstrating the evidence of benefits to health from physical activity

How sport can access funding available through non-sport funders

If you have a great story to tell, then call Svend Elkjaer on +44 (0) 1423 326 660 or email svend@smnuk.com